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Pennswood Village is a proud continuing care retirement community that offers residents a maintenance-free lifestyle and a full continuum of healthcare services, all covered under a Life Care contract. But, what is a Life Care contract?

A Life Care contract is an agreement between a resident and the community that covers most future healthcare expenses. It is the most comprehensive level of healthcare coverage available in a retirement community. With this contract, residents pay a one-time entry fee, as well as a monthly service fee, that covers everything from campus maintenance and dining to amenity upkeep, utilities and programing. The cost of a Life Care contract is largely dependent on both the floor plan and contract type you select.

It’s official! Dan Murray is now the Chief Executive Officer of Pennswood Village! Dan began his journey as CEO at Pennswood at the beginning of January 2018 and continues to settle in this month, energetically moving about the community, meeting every resident, staff member and committee.

Dan was originally attracted to the community because of the residents who call it home. “Pennswood has a real sense of community,” says Dan. “It’s warm, caring and supportive. It has a great culture to live in and work in and learn in.”

Before Dan came to Pennswood Village, he was the CEO of Friends Village at Woodstown for more than a decade. Friends Village is also a Quaker Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), located in southern New Jersey. During his time there, he helped the community grow from a nursing care-only community into a full CCRC by supporting the community through a significant expansion.

This past month, Pennswood residents Ruth and Charley Peterson happily celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary. While they didn’t want to host a big celebration, they decided they would mark the special occasion with a formal dinner in the Pennswood Village dining room. But, as they found out, it takes a village to get ready for a 74th wedding anniversary celebration!

As Ruth and Charley began to assemble their best formal attire for the occasion, they soon ran into a few problems. Charley’s tuxedo trousers that he had worn in the past no longer correctly fit him so he was left with only a shirt and jacket.

“We thought to ourselves ‘Who would have a pair of tuxedo trousers that would fit him?’,” said Ruth.

Anyone who is selling a house to move to a retirement community should know the importance of home staging. The process of home staging consists of simple changes and repairs that will make your house appeal to the greatest number of buyers. The goal is to create a space where buyers can imagine their own ideal lifestyle in the home.

An example of a staged home

Staging a house can also help it stand out from other competition in the neighborhood, and the investment in staging is a lower cost than a first price reduction. It results in a quick sale, for the best possible price, meaning you’ll be able to begin your maintenance-free retirement community lifestyle sooner rather than later.

Changes can range from a few throw pillows and minor repairs, to repainting or rearranging furniture. As you begin to prepare your house for the market, follow these few tips to ensure a quick sale for a great price.

1.) Rightsize

When you move to a retirement community like Pennswood Village, you’ll want to take the time to reduce your belongings in order to gain an active, maintenance-free lifestyle. We refer to this process as rightsizing. It’s best to begin this process significantly in advance, so that you can complete the work in smaller portions over time to reduce any clutter or stored items throughout the house.

Take a moment to reflect on the rooms you use in your house every day. You probably start each day waking in your bedroom, moving to the bathroom to get ready and then into the kitchen for breakfast. Maybe you spend some time in your living room watching a bit of TV or reading the paper before venturing out into your community for events, activities and errands.

Now also take a moment to reflect on the number of daily chores and regular maintenance you must do, like vacuuming and dusting, yard work, cooking, cleaning and laundry. Would you say that these chores and responsibilities only apply to the spaces you’re using in your house? What if someone was available to take care of these excess responsibilities for you instead?

Imagine if you no longer had to take care of these duties yourself, and only cared for the spaces you use on a daily basis, like your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area. Imagine that you also had services to help you take care of these spaces, with just one phone call? How much time would that leave you with to do the things you truly want to do?

When researching your senior living options, it’s important to take into consideration the lifestyle and financial implications of each. By completing a side-by-side comparison and cost-benefits analysis, you’ll be able to accurately compare the differences between living in your current house and choosing to live at a retirement community like Pennswood Village.

Armed with this information, you can use it to your advantage when it comes to making other retirement plans, like how you wish to spend both your money and your time. Do you want to make travel plans? Spend more time with your family? Devote more time to volunteering, a hobby or your career? All of this is up to you!

If you’re just beginning your search for the right Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), you may be a bit overwhelmed by the process.

There’s a lot of information available to retirees and their families about retirement communities, but your Google search may leave you with even more questions than when you started! The best way to have all your questions answered is by requesting a personal appointment with each community you’re considering.

To make your shopping experience a little easier, we’ve developed 5 categories into which you can break down a community:

“It becomes part of your life,” says Pennswood Village resident, Bill Strong, about practicing yoga. “We are our own best doctors if we unveil ourselves to the opportunities we have here. It’s all a plus.”

Pennswood Village hosts four different types of yoga classes for residents to choose from including regular yoga, restorative yoga, chair yoga, and a combination of yoga, Pilates and tai chi (PiYoChi) in the swimming pool.

The regular yoga class is a mid-level class offered every week on Fridays, while the restorative yoga class is focused on gentle stretching, both on the floor and in chairs. Chair yoga is a yoga class that alters traditional yoga poses for those who wish to practice in a seated position, while in PiYoChi, participants are supported by the water.

Donna, working with Pennswood’s helpful staff, to make apartment home selections.

“Whatever you want, that’s what it will be,” says Donna Bauman, Pennswood Village resident, about life at this Newtown, PA Continuing Care Retirement Community.

Donna moved from a three-bedroom house in Arizona to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in early 2017 to be closer to her children and their families. Initially, she and her children considered sharing a home, but Donna insisted that she find her own apartment home at a nearby retirement community instead.

Her son found three different communities to visit, each located within an hour of where he and Donna’s other children live in New Jersey. But, for Donna, the decision to move to Pennswood Village was an easy one. “By far, Pennswood was the most spectacular place I could ever want to be.”

Be Our Guest

Donna immediately knew that she wanted to make Pennswood Village her home after staying two nights in a guest suite through the “Be Our Guest” program. The program allows prospective residents to get the full experience of life at Pennswood Village by staying in a guest apartment, spending time with other residents, and enjoying all the services and amenities the community has to offer.

“I knew I was home as soon as I walked into that apartment. In fact, the guest suite I stayed in is my home now!” says Donna.

Everyone has a different idea of what a retirement community looks like, which is why many retirees may think they’re just not ready to move to one yet.

People often assume that it’s better to wait until their needs change to start planning a move. However, many senior living experts agree that the best time to make a move to a retirement community is while you’re active and able to plan thoroughly for the future.

Moving to a Continuing Care Retirement Community, like Pennswood Village, means having a solid plan for the future. Because we offer independent living, in addition to personal care and skilled nursing services, if your needs are to ever unexpectedly change, they will be met, right here on campus.